


Standing Up

by Leaper



Category: The Spectacular Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Inspired by another 'fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 04:46:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6270148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leaper/pseuds/Leaper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flash Thompson has changed.  Sha Shan has decided to figure out why — once and for all.  Based on/inspired by "Fighting Crime, Spinning Webs"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Standing Up

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fighting Crime, Spinning Webs](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397898) by [thebandragoness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebandragoness/pseuds/thebandragoness). 



> Okay, so I've been reading ["Fighting Crime, Spinning Webs](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397898/chapters/8855128) by thebanddragoness, and I was inspired.
> 
> This thing IN NO WAY reflects any personal knowledge of where her 'fic is going; it was just a scene that struck me enough that I had to write it —pounded out in one hour, to give you an idea of how much it struck me.
> 
> Many apologies to you, the reader, and the original author, but only if it's no good. :)

Sha Shan's closed fist hesitated just a few millimeters from the door. Once she did this, she was committed, no matter what happened next.

Was she sure?

Yeah. Yeah, she was sure.

So she knocked. It opened a few seconds later, and then, she truly was committed.

"Hey," Jesse Thompson said.

"Hi. Is Flash home?"

"Yeah. He's in his room doing homework. C'mon in." The younger girl stepped aside to allow Sha Shan entry, then closed the door behind her. Sha Shan knew she was free to go into the back hall, but for some reason, her feet wouldn't move.

There was an awkward silence.

"So, uh..." she began, "how's... things?"

"Okay. Seriously, okay." Jesse cracked a smile, a genuine if tired one. "Dad's been coming straight home from work ever since... y'know."

Sha Shan nodded in understanding; she heard the unspoken "for now" loud and clear. She was one of the few who knew what was going on in the Thompson household, a source of infinite frustration, because Flash just would _not_ accept help. "I can take care of myself and my sister, okay?" But that wasn't the _point_... She was getting infuriated just thinking about it. She forced herself to calm down.

"Mom actually put her foot down," Jesse continued, her smile widening. "Said she needed the help. So... yeah. It's actually better than it's been in a long time." A flash of guilt passed through her face; Sha Shan kept her counsel. "It's good. Things are good." Again, that unspoken "for now." "Don't worry about Mom and Dad; they're not home. Go ahead and see Eugene."

"Okay." Sha Shan started to turn, but hesitated, and turned back to Jesse. "Take care of yourself."

"Pssh," Jesse snorted, "you and I both know that it's Eugene that needs to be taken care of. I'm fine."

"All right." She knew that wasn't, couldn't be, the final word, but now wasn't the time for it. She simply turned and went down the shadowed back hall and stopped at the last door on the right. Taking a deep, calming breath, she knocked briskly.

"JUST A SECOND!" a voice yelled from the other side. There was a crashing and thumping of objects hitting the floor. "Crap! Uh, I'm comin'!" Sha Shan couldn't help but nod to herself as she listened to shuffling, then the squeaking of a wheelchair. The door flew open. "Hey!" Flash Thompson said in surprise. He looked perfectly normal (or what passed as normal these days), sitting in his wheelchair, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. "What're you doing here?"

"We need to talk," she said.

"Uh oh," Flash said with a grin. "Y'know that guys _hate_ hearing that."

"We need privacy."

"What? Oh, oh, yeah, sure." Flash backed up to let Sha Shan in, then shut the door behind him. "So..." The grin was still there, but the word was mildly tremulous. "What do we need to talk about?"

Sha Shan turned on her heel to face him and got right to the point. "You're different."

"Different?" Flash repeated. "Well, yeah, I used to have legs..." He gestured at his lap with a smirk. She was reminded again just how good an actor he was.

"No, not that way. You've been acting differently lately."

"Oh yeah?" Flash asked casually. "How?"

"It's... kind of hard to describe. But you are. More energetic, I guess. More cheerful."

"And this is... a bad thing?"

For the first time, Sha Shan hesitated. "No, but..."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is..." She paused. That indeed was the question, wasn't it — one she undoubtedly would've been asked by friends, if she'd dared to talk about her suspicions to them. But her instincts had been prickling for months, and instincts were just nudges by the subconscious mind noticing things that the conscious didn't — and she trusted her mind. So... it came to this. "I've been watching your window for the past few nights." She waved at an open bedroom window (in front of which, she noted, some books and trophies had been knocked over and were scattered across the bookcase underneath and the floor).

"You _what_?!" Flash burst out, the facade finally shattering into a wild panic. "I can explain! I... Seriously, you've been staking me out?!"

Sha Shan snorted. "Of course not. That'd be creepy and impractical. But thanks for confirming for me." She couldn't help but smirk in triumph as Flash wilted. "Look, I don't know exactly what's going on..."

"Maybe that's better," Flash said quietly, his eyes focused on his hands in his lap. "I mean... I don't want you to get in trouble or anything 'cause of me."

Sha Shan crossed her arms. "I thought we were friends."

"We are, but—"

"Then let me make my own decisions. Look at it this way: if _I_ figured out something was up, someone else might too. You could use some help keeping whatever it is you've got going on secret."

"You don't understand..."

"No, I don't, at all. But considering that stuff..." She pointed at the scattered books and trophies. "... Fell _away_ from the window, and there's what looks like a boot print on the sill pointing inside..." Sha Shan ran fingers through her hair, sighing. She sat at the end of Flash's bed, facing him. "I'm worried about you, okay? You're my friend, and friends help each other. I _want_ to help."

"I had another girl in here, okay? I had her escape through the window when you knocked, and..." Flash groaned. "You're not buying this, are you?"

"No."

"And you're not gonna let this go, are you?"

"No."

Flash looked up, staring mournfully into her eyes for a long, long moment. Finally, he croaked, "Okay. But... you can't tell _anyone_ , okay?"

"Of course not."

"And... just don't freak out..."

"Flash..."

"Fine..." He sighed. "Fine."

Then the hems of his shorts turned into black tendrils that flowed over the seat of the wheelchair and down towards the floor, forming legs and boots. Flash stood on them, as the tendrils swiftly crept upwards, over his torso, arms, and shoulders, until he wore what resembled black armor with a white spider symbol over his chest. The black stopped at the base of his neck.

Sha Shan gaped. Of all the wild, weird possibilities she thought of, this... _This..._

"Sha Shan?" Flash said in a worried tone.

"..."

"I... Um..."

"Is..." she managed to gasp out. "Is that... what I think it is...?"

"Um..." Flash rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda. Yeah. It's Venom." He took a breath. "I'm Venom. But I can control it! I—"

"This is _crazy_!" Sha Shan shrieked, rocketing to her feet.

"You're freaking out."

"Of course I am! This thing tried to kill Spider Man! Your hero! It made a guy _insane_! How— How did you—!"

"It's kind of a long story. But it's okay! Seriously, I can control it! As long as I check in every day, I'm fine—!"

"You have to get that thing off!"

"No!" Flash shouted.

"You have to get that thing off and take it back to wherever it came from! What do you think Spider Man would say if he—"

"He knows, okay?"

"And he approves?!"

Flash winced. "Not exactly, but—"

"This is _crazy_!" Sha Shan repeated, waving her arms around in agitation. "There are other ways to walk, Flash, ones that don't involve merging with a... a parasite _thing_ from outer space! Why the hell did you think this was anything _close_ to a good idea..."

To her surprise, Flash's next words were quiet, subdued. "Remember when you asked me how I could look up to Spider Man and still be such a huge jerk?"

Sha Shan stopped short. "Yeah, but..."

"You remember how I answered?"

"Yeah, you laughed and stuffed an entire burger in your mouth. What does that have to do with—"

"I didn't get it." Flash's eyes were shining. "I didn't get it until I actually _did_ it, and... God, Sha Shan, I had no idea how it felt... Actually _helping_ people instead of making their lives suck. It... I didn't know it was _like_ that..."

Flash's sincerity was almost physically warm. Sha Shan felt her anger unwillingly start to wane. "Well, of course, but there are still other ways to—"

"Not like this, though. Not like this. I'm a _hero_ now, Sha Shan, a _real hero_ , just like Spider Man! I can do what he does now! Look!" With a jump and a flip, he was standing on the ceiling; Sha Shan gaped. "I can shoot webs and I got spider sense and super strength and..." He returned to the floor. "I can control it, seriously, I can! Oh my God, if I could tell you some of the stuff I've already done...!"

Sha Shan was in a bit of a weird emotional state; she wasn't calming down, not exactly, but at least she was thinking more rationally. Considering Flash wasn't all huge and fangy, it seemed he could at least control Venom better than the last guy did, and she could easily see how the prospect of its power could be tempting. But still... "Flash..." she began, "I understand. Seriously, I do. But I still don't think this is a good idea..."

"And I can protect her now." Flash's voice was grim, but still trembling. "I can protect Jesse now. If I was still stuck in that wheelchair..."

Oh. Of course. "Oh, God, Flash..."

"My dad's behaving himself, but no way that's gonna last. But if he _ever_ even _looks_ at her funny again...!"

"Flash..."

"I'm not gonna hurt him. I'm not gonna be like _him_. Again, I mean. But now I know that if he goes nuts, I can _do_ something now." Flash inhaled. "This has nothin' to do with walking or anything. I didn't have any idea what I was gonna do without football or the military, but now... Now I feel like there's a _reason_ this happened. I can... I can make a _difference_ now." His eyes turned pleading. "Sha Shan, please..."

He wasn't going to stop. She was sure of it now. Whatever she did and said now, he wasn't going to stop. This was too personal. If she reported him to the authorities (which authorities?!), he'd just go on the run to keep from having to give it back, and probably make everything a hundred times worse. She didn't think she'd have to make this kind of decision, this was too big for her...

Then again, she knew, on some level, what she was walking into here, didn't she? Even if she didn't exactly _know_ (and how could she, for something like this?), she knew she might have to keep a few more secrets, right? And if Spider Man knew, if whoever had Venom before knew, they had to know what they were doing better than her, right?

Oh, God, she was already starting to justify this to herself, just like him.

She groaned, rubbing her temple. She looked up to see Flash staring at her, wide eyed and tentative, with that... that _thing_ still all over him and looking like it was part of him...

Which it sort of was.

"So..." She swallowed. "... You can actually control that thing? How?"

Flash brightened. "It's kinda a long story, but yeah!"

"So your legs..."

"Yeah. I mean, it's kind of weird; I can walk like I used to, but I can't even wiggle my toes. 'Cause I don't have toes, not really..." He trailed off; she wondered if he sensed the emotion in the air.

"Okay." She swallowed, immediately regretting her decision even as she made it. But what else could she do? Every other path, even just walking out and trying to forget everything that just happened, had disaster waiting at the other end; at least this way, she could have _some_ control over what ended up happening to her. "Okay. I'll keep my mouth shut. But I've got two conditions."

"Name 'em," Flash said, immediately and firmly.

"One: You're going to let me into your life, into... _this_ , no exceptions, no hiding, nothing. The _second_ you shut me out or I even _suspect_ you don't have control, I'm telling Spider Man, the mayor, the President, everybody I can get on the phone. I'm not going to let Venom hurt you, me, Jesse, or anyone else. Got it?"

She wasn't sure what it was — maybe the mention of Jesse? — but Flash's face turned hard, determined, like nothing she'd ever seen from him outside the football field. He nodded. "Okay. You got it. The second?"

"You said you could shoot webs like Spider Man, right?"

"Yeah...?"

Sha Shan smiled toothily; Flash gulped.

* * *

"WOO HOO!" Sha Shan whooped as the night air whistled by her ears, the skyscrapers rushed by in a blur of light and shadow.

Flash — Agent Venom — chuckled. "I've never seen you like this before."

"You kidding?! This is _awesome_! Ohmigod, it's better than I could've ever imagined...! YEE HAW!" She barely felt the slightest dip in elevation each time Agent Venom shot out another web line; otherwise, if she closed her eyes and ignored the arm wrapped tightly about her waist, she could almost think she was flying...

But it was hard — _very_ hard — to ignore that strong arm wrapped around her.

"You're gonna ask me to do this all the time, aren't you?" She could almost feel Flash's warm breath through the mask — or the layer of Venom that pretended to be a mask — in her ear.

"Ohhhh, yeah!"

The people and cars below her looked like mere toys from up here — and up here, they had just as much relevance. Up here... Nobody but her and him, flying...

Sha Shan Nguyen felt free.


End file.
